


Looking for Redemption pt. 1: Choices

by capn_cecil_ang



Category: Torchwood
Genre: AU flashbacks, Angst, Angst and Comfort, Children of Earth Fix-It, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Jack's innuendos, Multi, Nightmares, Partly AU, Swearing, Torchwood rebuilt, acute stress reaction according to both ICD-10 and DSM-IV, bad mental state, minor Torchwood/Sanctuary crossover, minor characters deaths, time and space traveling, universe alternated (UA)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 00:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5517953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capn_cecil_ang/pseuds/capn_cecil_ang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s year 2010 and Jack is returning to Earth. He finds out much has changed, but the biggest changes only awaits him.</p><p>Meanwhile Cardiff is facing even worse weather than usual. New Torchwood team, led by Gwen Cooper, is trying to come up with solution of sudden high Rift Activity.</p><p>Gwen, trying to handle work and family life, is faced with new difficult decisions when her ex-boss shows up at Cardiff’s doorstep again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking for Redemption pt. 1: Choices

**Author's Note:**

> For story to work The House of the Dead never happened in this universe (and therefore not even Miracle Day).
> 
> Beta by amazing frostyzombie; you can find her also on tumblr under earthtobarry ... amazing gal! (:
> 
> Oh and, Merry Christmas, guys :-)
> 
> Update (22nd Feb): So I finally got hold on my amazing beta again - sorry folks, there has been some minor problems with time and broken computers and stuff, you know the usual timey wimey stuff... anyway, I am positive the second chapter will be up soon... thank you for patience guys, hope you won't be disappointed!

Captain Jack Harkness...

... a man larger than life...

... whose charisma lit up the whole room every time he walked in...

... whose voice echoed through space every time he spoke...

... whose laughter, so full and so open, brightened up day of everyone who heard it...

... even though he wasn’t laughing much anymore.

Captain Jack Harkness.

He wasn’t an ordinary person.

He wasn’t even an ordinary human being.

He was so much more.

And yet he felt like so much less.

 

Jack was standing on the fresh young surface of Earth again, breathing in the cool morning air. It was too early for anyone else to be here except the souls sleeping in their resting places. The air was filled with aroma of fully blossomed trees, combined with creeping dank smell of the place itself. He was standing in the shadows of two big trees, far away from the entrance to the place. He stood there, looking over well-kept grass, hoping the trees would hide the tears streaming down his face.

He had thought a year was enough. It had been a year since he had last felt grass of Cardiff under his feet and its chilly wind on his face. A year since he had heard the birds of earth chirping for the last time. A year from the events he had tried so desperately to forget. And yet, he still wasn’t prepared to face the inevitable.

Jack breathed in the air and smiled softly. It still smelled of the recent rain, bringing back the memories of meeting his old friend for the first time; the youngest of Torchwood’s officers, considering the years of service; Gwen Cooper. Jack wondered what she was doing right now and his features saddened even more. He hoped she was leading a better life; a calmer, safer one.

He remembered Estelle. The way she always made him smile and the way she was able to talk long hours about her fairies. About their young and promising love. And about their promise of being together until the end. And how we wasn’t able to fulfil that promise. He remembered the way she died. How he wanted to save her; but he couldn’t. And he remembered his colleagues, his friends; Owen, of whom he had two chances to save... and he couldn’t; Toshiko—whom he could have saved if only the circumstances were different... but he couldn’t; and he remembered Ianto—he wanted to forget; the pain, the anger, the regret... but he couldn’t. Not only because he promised he wouldn’t. Jack seemed like an extraordinary man. And in some ways he was. But he still was just a man. And the burden he had to carry was way too big for him.

Jack didn’t even hear soft footsteps behind him, when he suddenly felt a hand on his arm and heard a soft voice saying his name. It was at this moment he realised he wasn’t alone anymore. He turned around abruptly and blinked few times – mainly to get rid of the tears in his eyes.

“Gwen.” Jack breathed as he felt the body of his old friend crushing his chest in tight hug.

“Jack! I’m so glad to see you.” she said, her voice muffled by her face pressed against his chest.

He couldn’t help himself but smile at the sound of an all too familiar Welsh accent. Jack hugged her hesitantly and said quietly: “Yeah, me too.”

After few excruciating moments when Jack thought Gwen would crush his chest completely, causing him to suffocate, she finally let go of him.

“I thought you’d never come back.” she said, tears in her eyes, but still smiling.

“Yeah.” Jack glanced back to the cemetery briefly. “Me too.”

Gwen’s smile faded immediately. “Did you come to—?”

“Yes…” Jack fell silent then, breathing in heavily. “But I can’t. Not yet. It’s still too soon.”

“He will be waiting.” Gwen said softly. “I’ve been taking care of the place since... well, since you left.”

“You didn’t need to.”

“I wanted to.” She said immediately. “He was my friend too, you know.”

Jack smiled sadly at her, his eyes glancing over the graves shortly.

“Also,” Gwen continued. “It made me feel … that maybe _he_ will feel better, knowing someone remembered.”

The flash of pain in Jack’s eyes didn’t miss Gwen’s attention and she added quickly:

“I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean to... I know you remembered.”

She looked around then, like she was absorbing the surroundings. The she added, all too quietly:

“I know you never remembered me, or this,” she gestured vaguely to the grassy space around them, meaning everything around—the city, Torchwood, pizza Fridays—everything. “It’s ok. We’ve moved on. I’ve moved on.”

“I did... remember you,” Jack said. “…all of you. But I couldn’t come back. I couldn’t see what I had caused.”

“You didn’t—”

“No, Gwen! You know very well how it was. The Doctor knew it. He warned me.” Jack said, his voice stern.

“So you’re going to run again, then?!” she almost shouted, newfound anger boiling in her. “Leave everything behind?”

“And what is here worth staying?” Jack asked.

“Torchwood.”

“Torchwood is dead, Gwen.”

“No, it’s not.” She said with a smile, a real, warm smile Jack missed the most about her. “Let me show you something.”

 

They walked quietly down the beaten path to the main entrance of cemetery. Jack couldn’t but smirk when he saw Torchwood’s long lost black SUV standing in front of the gate like a majestic creature.

“So you managed to get it back?” he asked.

“It took me few weeks to track it down… and few bribes to get it back.” Gwen smiled. “But I thought, what the hell. There wouldn’t be Torchwood without SUV, would it?”

“I thought you’d be living a normal life after I left.”

“How could I?” Gwen looked at him, her eyes saddening slightly. “Once you’ve seen this all, how could you go back to normal life, right?”

 

When SUV finally stopped, Jack found himself looking at familiar shops and restaurants on Mermaid Quay. Roald Dahl Plass was looking better than ever; almost like it had never suffered a terrible blast. Even the Water Tower was back up, proudly rising over the concrete ground. Jack smiled sadly, memories flooding through his brain; good and bad, all mixed up together.

“You’ve... rebuilt the Hub?” he asked, frankly surprised.

“Rebuilt and redecorated... With a little help from the government.” Gwen said as she made her way across the square towards bay and Torchwood’s old tourist entrance.

“Are you their pet now?” Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He made an uneasy smirk. He still could remember the feeling of being blown up with the “Hub 1.0” and he also very vividly remembered who gave the order.

“No.” Gwen said resolutely. “We are still separate from everyone. They just... felt they owed us after what happened during 456 invasion.”

Jack didn’t say a word afterwards. He silently followed Gwen towards shabby old door of former fake tourist office. Gwen glanced quickly around them, more out of force of habit than necessity, and she gestured Jack to follow her inside. As they walked in, Jack cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow. The little dusty room looked like storage more than anything else. There was visible coat of dust on the piles of empty crates and wooden parcels. It was obvious it hadn’t been used for a very long time.

“Well no offence Gwen, but you’ve done a pissy job here.” Jack said with a slight smirk. “This looks like a living person hasn’t stepped in here in over a year.”

Gwen smiled knowingly and closed the door behind them. “Is it though?” She took out her mobile phone and typed few numbers in it. “It’s just a hologram,” she said with a smile, as the whole room started to change in front of their eyes. “Simon’s idea.”

They turned around and watched as the opposite wall, previously covered with chipped wood and mould, turned into massive iron door. Jack gasped in surprise and looked around. Dusty shelves with old wooden crates disappeared and instead there was an administration counter. Mouldy walls turned into neatly kept wooden ones, covered with informational posters and signboards. Jack looked around the room and suddenly he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was standing in the old Hub again. In fact, the room reminded Jack of their old fake tourist office a little too much. The furniture was kept clean, but not used very often. Jack would even swear he felt the faint aroma of fresh coffee, but it was probably only his senses fooling him. But the atmosphere of old Hub was real and it brought back the memories Jack had been suppressing for so long. Even worse was Gwen’s sympathetic look.

“Simon, huh?” Jack said, trying to prevent Gwen from asking the question he didn’t want to answer. “Guess he’ll be the computer whiz kid.”

Gwen gestured towards the massive iron door. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

“You know me. No need to tell me twice.” Jack said enthusiastically.

Gwen entered another code into her mobile phone and the door opened with a loud thud. They walked through long dark corridors and up and down a few flights of stairs before they finally made it to the main area of the Hub. Jack entered first, going through yet one more pair of iron doors and an iron protective grid, very similar to one they had in here previously. But when he finally walked into the main area, he found himself staring at the magnificent space with his mouth ajar.

The place looked spectacular, more spacey than the old Hub. The majestic water tower in the centre was rebuilt and functioning, the floor around it covered in light grey marble, creating a hexagonal sign with a big T in the middle of the figure. On Jack’s right was station with computer, where the Rift analysis was running. On the far end of the room behind the computers were stairs leading down. Jack guessed it was the way towards vaults, archives, and deeper levels of the Hub. Next to it, on its old place, was see-through armoury. Behind the Water Tower Jack could yet depict rotating stairs leading up on the first floor. As Jack looked up there he saw a closed wooden door to what seemed like an office; Gwen’s one, Jack assumed. On the opposite side of gritted balcony was yet another room, which formerly served as some kind of boardroom and greenhouse in one. He looked back down, where his old office used to be, only to see there was now a medical laboratory. Autopsy room seemed to be on the same old place, as Jack could see from his position. In front of it was a couch area, only with better looking couch and some armchairs. Jack could already picture how comfortable those chair must have been. And on Jack’s left were short stairs down to another station – Jack guessed it was the technical station, since he didn’t notice one yet. Over all, the Hub seemed much cosier and warmer than its previous version. Jack smirked and turned to face Gwen.

“I see you’ve let yourself inspired by the old Hub in some places.”

“Yeah, well. What can I say?” she said, looking around the area. “I was a little nostalgic.”

“Well, it’s not the old Hub.” Jack said.

“No, it’s not.” Gwen nodded.

“It’s way better.” Jack turned to her, a big grin plastered on his face.

“So you like it?”

“Like? No. I love it.” Jack laughed lightly. “Now, give me a proper tour.”

“As you wish, Captain.” she said cheerfully, grabbing him lightly by the arm and leading him downstairs to show him the less frequented corners of the Hub.

*******

When they came back upstairs, to the main area of the Hub, the place seemed to be still pretty empty. Jack even started to question if anyone else was working here. But then again, it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet.

They descended the stairs to the technical station, where the computer screens blinked calmly in a regular rhythm and various other devices were making quiet buzzing sounds. Jack raised his eyebrows as soon as he saw the cardboard living-sized Captain America staring at him frowningly from the far corner.

“So, this is Simon’s station.” Gwen said as she leaned against one of the tables, facing the room and Jack, who was curiously looking over the stuff in it. “As you already guessed, he is our technical help. The stuff he can do with computers.”

“He sounds like a really handy guy.” Jack said with a smirk.

“Really?” Gwen scowled at him, but laughed anyway. “You haven’t even met him yet.”

“And yet I am already looking forward to it.” Jack laughed. “By the way, what’s with the superhero decorations?” Jack gestured vaguely around the room because as in fact, there was not one place in the entire room where wasn’t some kind of a fandom reference made.

There was cardboard Captain America, who Jack tried not to look at too much, because every time he did he felt like the man was scowling him for not being patriotic enough. Harry Potter and Dumbledore action figures were guarding the keyboard of one of the computers while the flag of Gondor hung proudly on the opposite wall. Two lightsabers were attached to the same wall, crossing each other into an illuminating X. They were shedding some light on a table piled up with loads of scribbled papers and a tea-mug with a pentagram, which was set right onto the pile of those papers. Jack thought he couldn’t be any more surprised, when he noticed a prosthetic hand with three metal claws set in jar on another table. He shot a questioning look at Gwen, for the first time in a long time at a complete loss of words.

“He is quite a geek,” Gwen smiled fondly. “He is really loveable boy, though. You’d like him, I can assure you.”

“Well,” Jack smirked again, was about to say something when the sound of iron cog door cut into it and they heard footsteps approaching them.

“Gwen? Hi there.” Said a voice with clear Irish accent somewhere from behind the corner. “Grand soft day, innit? Hopefully it won’t pour again.” His voice filled the room as he made his way towards his station. “Sorry for being late though. I’d come up with some excuse but at this point, let’s just leave it with “it’s part of my personality”, yeah?”

“You’re not late, Simon. It’s not even eight yet.” Gwen said, smiling at her colleague.

“It’s not? Damn. I really need to change the battery in those watches.” Jack heard the man say, as his voice moved closer and closer. “But listen though, I wanted to show you some...” Simon’s voice cut off abruptly and the footsteps stopped at what Jack could guess was close behind him. He turned around and stared into two sparkly green eyes of a twenty something years old boy.

“Christ on a bike!” the boy said breathlessly, his pink lips a bit ajar in awe. He squinted slightly and shook his head, a few locks of his ginger-tinged brown hair falling on his forehead.

“Is this?” he was glancing from Jack to Gwen and back to Jack, trying to stutter more words. “This him?” he finally managed to say.

“Yes,” Gwen nodded smilingly, earning a confused look from Jack.

“Away on that!”  Simon was glancing between two of them, his face lighting up with disbelief and awe. “Really, though?”

“Really,” Gwen nodded, smiling even wider, trying to hold back laughter from Jack’s perplexed expression.

“Oh, uhm... sorry—I mean... I’m... I’m Simon. Simon Maxwell. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain.” a young boy extended his hand to Jack and Jack accepted it immediately, his eyebrows raised up curiously.

“Don’t apologise on my account. Cap’n Jack Harkness. But somehow I have this feeling you know that already.”

“Oh... yes, I’m... sorry. I... I just know a lot about you. I mean, I’m not some gone in the head guy who stalks people. It’s just...” Simon glanced to his boss, “Gwen told us all these tales about you and your old team and well,” Simon’s free hand shot up to rub the back of his neck, “ok, maybe I am a bit gone in the head guy. But I am no bloody creepy-ass stalker. I may have been though actively interested in Torchwood even before the 456 incident. You might want to know, how I know about 456, right? Well, let’s just say they’re not that good in covering up almost-end-of-the-world stuff. Right?”

“Yes and eventually, as curious as Simon is, he hacked into our system to satisfy his curiosity and we caught him.” Gwen said. “Nevertheless, we needed a technical support so, here he is.”

Jack shook Simon’s hand appreciatively and patted him on the shoulder acknowledging. “You were right,” he turned to Gwen, smiling brightly. “I already like this guy.”

He looked back to Simon, seeing his face started to turn slightly red and he laughed frankly. “Oh I would never guess I would have a fanboy.”

Simon’s face turned the exact shade of his Iron Man t-shirt and his freckles faded completely under the deep red blush.

“Oh and don’t worry, Simon.” Jack smiled. “Your ass is definitely not creepy. On the contrary—”

“Right, enough of welcoming ceremony.” Gwen said, quite in time, as Simon looked like he was about to explode from all the redness in his face.

“Was there something you wanted to show me, Simon?” Gwen asked, turning the conversation back to relevant things.

“Aye!” Simon nodded, trying to compose himself. “There was this ridiculous Rift activity again this morning.” he opened the leather messenger bag he had hanging on one shoulder and took out a small tablet computer.

“Simon, have you downloaded the Rift activity software into your PDA?” Gwen scowled, shaking her head slightly.

“I had to, Gwen,” Simon said, as if his mother was scowling him for stealing freshly baked cookies from the kitchen. “You saw the measurements... it was total blarney!”

“What’s this ‘bout?” Jack looked at both of them, frowning deeply.

“Interested?” Gwen raised her eyebrows, satisfied smirk playing on her lips.

The smirk didn’t escape Jack’s attention, but he chose not to react to it. “Just curious. You know me,” he said.

“We detected this really remarkable Rift activity few days ago.” Simon said enthusiastically. “And today it’s done it again. The spikes are almost out of range. Never seen anything like it.”

“Ok, this seems interesting.” Jack nodded. “Any ideas what caused it?”

“Nothing,” Gwen said before Simon could start his enthusiastic blabber again. “The energy figures are almost above our measurements and it’s all... well... kind of blarney, as Simon said.”

Jack frowned and glanced at Gwen shortly before he returned his gaze back to the screen of one of the computers where Simon had projected the ratings. Something seemed definitely off.

“And you say it had gone off like this when?” Jack asked.

“Ehm, it was the 6th of July... Three days ago... Since then nothing… up until this morning.” Simon said as he was typing something into one of his computers.

“And nothing happened? Nothing came through the Rift?” Jack asked.

“Nothing we know about.” Gwen shook her head. “But even if something came through, the spikes were all over the city. We couldn’t have deciphered it in time. But still, there is no sign of anything Rift related anywhere in town.”

“Anything else out of normal?” Jack crossed his arms at his chest, still frowning deeply.

“Nothing.” Gwen said. “Just the weather being worse than usual. Guess there will be a big storm today or tomorrow.”

“Hm.”

“And we can’t even locate the source of activity, or the pattern. It just comes and goes.”

“And you’re sure it started just three days ago?” Jack asked.

“Well...” Simon said, smirking a bit nervously, “that‘s my guess. I’ve been upgrading the system a bit lately and well... there was a power outage about a week ago which did it all arseways! I’ve had to start from scratch after that.”

“So it is possible that activity could have occurred even before?” Jack asked, truly intrigued.

“It’s not impossible.” Simon said, frowning at the screen.

“Ok, Simon.” Gwen joined the conversation again. “Keep watching it closely. Inform me about any other changes.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Simon said automatically, not even looking away from the screen.

Jack raised his brows and sent Gwen another amused smirk.

“Stop it!” Gwen scowled at him and dragged him out of the technical section. “Come on! We haven’t finished your tour yet.”

 

Few minutes later Jack and Gwen found themselves on the first floor, in Gwen’s office. Gwen was leaning against the table, watching Jack looking over the room, taking in every small detail.

“You have it quite nice here.” he said finally.

“I… wanted to make it as similar to your old office as possible, you know, to remember you.” She said softly. Jack only nodded, not saying a word.

“And also, in case you ever came back.” Gwen added.

“Gwen.” he looked at her properly for the first time since they entered the room with too many memories. He had known this conversation would come sooner or later. He had only hoped it was going to be later.

“Jack, you know this is your life. This is what you’ve been fighting for for centuries. This is you.”

“Not anymore.  Jack looked over the office once again, before he continued, “Torchwood’s not mine anymore, Gwen. It is your child now. You’ve made it what it is today. All I did was destroy it all, destroy the lives of hundreds. I won’t do that again. I couldn’t live with it.”

“And what will you do then, Jack?” Gwen said a bit sharply. “What’ll you be doing with your life? Slacking around the galaxy for the rest of eternity? This isn’t you. You need a purpose, you need to help others.”

“Don’t,” Jack almost whispered, his voice only weak surrender. “... just don’t make me go through it again. I have seen so many people I love die because of Torchwood. I couldn’t handle another one.”

“Jack,” she tried to reach her arm towards him, to comfort him if nothing else, but in that moment a tiny dark haired woman in the lab coat entered the room unexpectedly.

She was looking down at her clipboard, reading something at it, so she didn’t realize right away that Gwen wasn’t alone.

“Oh,” she stopped in her tracks as she raised her eyes from the clipboard and spotted Jack. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company, Gwen,” she said immediately.

“That’s ok, Lucy. Please, come in.” Gwen smiled and leant away from the table. “Jack, this is Dr. Lucinda Valdez. Lucy, Captain Jack Harkness.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, as she walked closer to Jack and extended her hand to him.

“Nice to meet you, Lucy,” Jack smiled slightly and she smiled back, a warm and friendly gesture.

“So, you came back?” Lucy asked, visibly surprised. “I thought you were gone for good.”

Jack turned his head to Gwen briefly. “How much did you tell them about me exactly?”

“Don’t worry, just a heads-up.” Gwen smiled, though sternly. 

“So this means you are taking over this place again?” Lucy asked a bit confused.

“Oh, no, don’t worry.” Jack smiled, but there was something different in this smile, a sign of pain and sorrow. “Gwen is still your boss; always will be. I’m just passing by. Actually,” he looked at Gwen, “I think I should go.”

“Jack,” Gwen grabbed him by the shoulder stopping him abruptly, “please, at least think about it.”

Jack looked at her long and thoughtful. Then he nodded. “Very well then. I will. But not here.” he fell silent for a while, a small smile appearing on his face again. “I missed quite a bit of time here. I think I will go and see if anything has changed in a year.”

Gwen looked like she wanted to say something, but Jack interrupted her. “Don’t worry. I won’t fly off. I promise.”

“Ok.” Gwen nodded, finally resigning.

As Jack was making his way slowly out of Gwen’s office, he overheard Lucy and Gwen talking about the report for UNIT and he smiled. Some things didn’t change even in a year.

 

Gwen was hunched over her desk, working on a report from their last alien encounter, her eyes closing involuntarily. She didn’t fancy paperwork too much, but she liked to keep things clean and organized. She wasn’t however really in the mood for paperwork right now. Anwen kept her up almost all night and the fact Jack appeared on their door-step out of nowhere didn’t give her much of serenity she needed right now either.

She made an effort to distinguish the words which were looking at her from the pages, but she knew her fight was lost. When her phone suddenly rang, she jumped in her seat, a bit shaken. She checked the ID and was surprised when she saw Jack’s name on the screen.

“Yes?” she asked as she accepted the call.

“I have a little surprise for you, Gwen. Meet me at Sevenoaks Park.” Jack’s voice sounded from the speaker.

Gwen rubbed her tired eyes and frowned. “Jack, what are you doing in Grangetown?”

“Just come… and bring the SUV.” Jack said.

Jack hung up before Gwen could ask him anything else. She sighed in annoyance and exhaustion and stood up from her desk, tucking her gun behind her belt. As she walked pass the technical station, she told Simon she’d be back in a while, receiving a smile and a nod from young Irishman.

She took the keys of the SUV and started towards the massive cog door. Her mood only got worse when she stepped outside only to realize it was raining heavily again. She tucked up her collar and made her way towards the SUV. Whatever Jack wanted, she hoped it was worth it.

 

When Gwen arrived at the location, Jack was waiting for her at the edge of the park, next to the sports court of primary school, struggling Weevil under his tight grip. He was standing under the trees, shielding himself from unwanted attention and rain.

“So that’s the surprise you have for me?” Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow as she got out of the SUV to the rain again.

“I came across this poor sod and well, I thought it wouldn’t make the best impression if I promenaded with him through the bay.” he tightened his grip on the Weevil, who sensed the newcomer and started to struggle even more. “So I thought to myself… what should I do? Of course, I’d call the boss.” Jack smirked slightly.

“Come, let’s get him in the boot.” Gwen said tiredly, suppressing a yawn.

“When did you last sleep properly?” Jack asked her as they were loading Weevil into the SUV.

“Whole night? I can’t even remember.” Gwen laughed bitterly.

“It must be hard, being a mother and a boss.”

“You can’t even imagine.” Gwen said slowly, highlighting every word.

“Well… you’d be surprised.” Jack smirked again.

As soon as they finished loading the Weevil they got into car. Jack insisted on driving, explaining he wouldn’t like to crash because of Gwen’s micro sleep, with the half stunned Weevil in the back of the car. As they were rolling down the road, Gwen leaned her head against the head rest and closed her eyes for a while.

“Was it really just a coincidence or did you track that Weevil down, Jack?” she asked after a while, her eyes still closed.

“Why would I track down the Weevil?” Jack asked.

“Because you missed it,” she looked at him, her voice stern, “the chasing and fighting; admit it… you missed Torchwood.”

“I would have lied if I said I didn’t.” Jack said, his eyes not leaving the road. “But this doesn’t mean I am coming back, Gwen.”

“So what will you do?” she asked. “Where will you go now? To what planet?”

“Apparently nowhere. This thing,” he gestured to his leather wrist band briefly, “it’s still burned out and there is no ship to take me away right now. So I’m stuck here whether I want it or not.”

“You know,” Gwen said tiredly, “we have few care rooms in the hospital wing if you—”

“I’m not staying in any hospital accommodation, Gwen.” Jack said grumpily, narrowing his eyes to distinguish the poorly visibly traffic signs on the road through heavy rain.

“There is also this one room with a bed behind my office; a bit bigger than your old one but nothing fancy. No one ever used it actually, but it’s there. I placed it there if anybody needed to spend the night in the Hub, or ... you know, if you ever came back.” she finished almost silently.

They were both silent for quite a while, only the sound of wipers resonating in their ears.

“I know Torchwood was your home, Jack.” Gwen said after a while, her voice low but firm. “And I know you don’t have anywhere else to go. So I just want you to know, you have always one place where you can stay.”

Jack didn’t say anything until they stopped in private car park under the Millennium Centre. He pulled the handbrake and looked on the window, drops of rain water still sliding down its surface.

“We should take that Weevil to the vaults.” he said after a while.

“Sure,” Gwen nodded, already opening the door. She was just about to get out, when she felt Jack’s hand on hers, silently asking her to wait. She turned back and left the door ajar. When her eyes met with Jack’s, her heart sank deeply—the amount of pain mingled with guilt in Jack's eyes tore her apart from inside. But she kept the brave face because she knew her friend needed it. As Jack spoke however, she noticed a slight spark of something else in his eyes for a brief moment – something what very closely reminded her of relief.

Jack’s voice was low and quiet as he spoke, mixing with growls of the trapped Weevil in boot: “Thank you, Gwen. For not forgetting about me.”


End file.
